Voters have four candidates in which to choose from for a state House representative seat vacated by Matt Baker earlier this year.
The special election to fill the remainder of Baker’s term will be held May 15, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., the same day as the primary election. The 68th District lawmaker post covers parts of Potter and Bradford counties and all of Tioga County.
Republican candidates include Clint Owlett, whom the Republican parties in Bradford, Tioga and Potter counties have backed, and Dennis Weaver and Tioga County Commissioner Mark Hamilton, who suspended his campaign but whose name will remain on the ballot.
The lone Democrat is Carrie Heath, who has the support of the executive committee of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
Whoever wins will immediately fill the vacant seat. Baker resigned earlier this year to become the regional director of the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs with the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Owlett is pro-life and pro-Second Amendment rights. In his political literature he indicates, if elected, he would also advocate for agricultural interests. He also supports what he terms responsible natural gas exploration and the resulting job creation.
He has been involved at Three Springs Ministries, Owlett’s Sunshine Farm Market and Ski Sawmill Family Resort. Owlett began a small construction and decorative concrete business in 2012.
Meanwhile, Heath wants to see a Career and Technical Education Center in the 68th district, as well as infrastructure invested in and rebuilt, including water and sewer systems, roads and bridges, as well as comprehensive solutions to addiction, depression and domestic abuse, according to her campaign website.
She teaches at Wellsboro High School and has held leadership positions in several local associations, including Friends of the Green Free Library, Wellsboro Art Club, Mary Wells Chapter #452 Order of the Eastern Star and Tioga County Indivisible.
For his part, Weaver is seeking election to help get rid of the drug epidemic, and he also believes there are overreaching government regulations, according to his campaign website. He is pro-life and pro-Second Amendment rights. He also will fight to make sure unnecessary and burdensome regulations do not get in the way of development of natural resources.
He has experience in the dairy, trucking and construction industries. For the past 11 years he has been selling homes in the Mansfield area.
For Hamilton, he has served as commissioner for more than a decade. He has also served as president of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. He has 30-plus years’ experience as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician.
